Parents object to big kids on buses

Saturday

GOSHEN — Scooch over elementary-schoolers, because you'll soon be sharing those school buses with some very big kids.

GOSHEN — Scooch over elementary-schoolers, because you'll soon be sharing those school buses with some very big kids.

Goshen middle- and- high-schoolers staying for extracurricular activities will no longer be getting their own bus home, the district decided this week.

Instead, the roughly 130 students will be bused from their secondary schools to the elementary school, then loaded in groups of four or five onto 34 buses full of young children.

The plan has received a chilly reception from some parents.

"Any mother in their right mind would know this is not a good idea," said Tracey Raquet, who has daughters starting kindergarten and the third grade.

Raquet said older elementary school kids on the bus have already exposed her daughter to skimpy attire and the N-word, and she fears the presence of teenagers will only result in more inappropriate incidents.

"What happens when a little kid sees a drug deal on the bus?" Raquet wonders.

In a note posted to the district website, Goshen said merging the bus routes will result in school buses traveling some 21,600 fewer miles each year, reducing fuel and maintenance costs for the district. Superintendent Daniel Connor and the district's transportation director, Donna Post, didn't return calls or emails seeking comment Friday.

District officials discussed the rationale for the changes with the school board Monday night, said board President Judith Green. But the item didn't appear on the meeting agenda posted to the district website.

Raquet and Rebecca Wood, who has a son entering second grade, said the district told them problems would be handled on a case-by-case basis. Both parents thought that strategy was ill-advised.